James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

Yeshua (Jesus) asked this man "Do you want to be made well?" Of course he did! Wouldn't you? Why did Jesus ask a question like this when its answer was so clearly obvious? It seems the Lord wanted to hear him verbalize his need.

In the biography of George Mueller, a strong man of God who established orphanages throughout England in the 1800's and raised the kids up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, this amazing Saint relied upon God for every single need that he faced without making any financial appeals. He laid before the Lord every aspect of these orphanages. He prayed for the locations, the buildings, the furniture to fill them, the workers to run them, and everything else he could think of. When the first orphanage was ready, Mueller realized one major thing was lacking — orphans!! He forgot to ask the Lord to provide the orphans!

Sometimes the obvious things just smack us in the face, don't they? On several occasions, I've found myself in this very position! Silly me — I forgot to ask!

The Lord is asking us today, "Do you want to be made well?" Whether it be physical healing, spiritual, emotional or financial healing, no thing is too great or too small for our Lord! Perhaps we've just forgotten to ask Him!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/do-you-want-to-be-made-well/feed0Sometimes we gotta get down and dirty!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/sometimes-we-gotta-get-down-and-dirty
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/sometimes-we-gotta-get-down-and-dirty#commentsFri, 29 Aug 2014 09:18:53 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/?p=3791by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions

John 9:6-7 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

I read this passage and I wonder how I would react if someone mixed their saliva with some dirt on the ground and put it on my face like this. Ewww! Why didn't Jesus just heal this guy and be done with it? Why the messy prelude?

If you'll notice, Jesus did two things. First, He placed mud on the man's eyes. Then, He told him to go and wash himself in the pool of Siloam. Of course, the man willingly obeyed. If you had some gross concoction smeared on your eyes, wouldn't you? The mud actually provided the motivation for his obedience.

My point? We don't always have to understand why we find our selves muddy sometimes. Perhaps if we weren't muddy, we'd never be motivated to obey! And obedience is crucial to a successful and flourishing walk with the Lord.

Let's not despise the mud on our face today. We all have times of trial. Let's use them for an opportunity to be obedient! God is just trying to help us see better!

Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

I came across an old article about "fake physicians". According to this article, many American citizens could be receiving medical treatment from doctors who lied on their medical school loan applications and used the money to pay a broker for fake documents. One guy was arrested and later admitted that he was paid beaucoup bucks to hand out approximately a hundred phony medical documents claiming that his clients completed their training! Can you imagine?!

Not to scare anyone, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that this kind of thing is commonplace today — we live in a world full of corruption and deceit.

But you know what really DOES surprise me? We would sooner trust in doctors we don't know and medicines we've never heard of than trust in the healing touch of the Lord! We've somehow, been conditioned to look for every possible physical solution to our health problems and finally, when those don't work, we throw up our hands and say "Oh well, there's nothing left to do but pray!"

Let's get real here! We need to go to God FIRST! Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you! Haven't we heard this somewhere before? Let's start putting our trust first in the Lord today!

Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

A good friend sent us this story.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of two hundred, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands immediately started going up.

"I am going to give this $20 bill to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground, spit on it and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Still want it now?" Surprisingly, hands still didn't go down.

"My friends, I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here. No matter what I did to this money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was worth twenty whole dollars no matter what I did to it."

"Often in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, spit upon and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But here's the kicker. No matter what has happened, we will never lose value in God's eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, we are still priceless. The worth of our lives does not come in who we are but by whose we are! Let's give our lives back to the Lord today, our disappointments, our suffering, our feelings of worthlessness. He is the God of healing. He has made us clean and worthy of our calling in Him!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/whats-your-worth/feed0Let the light shine in the darkness!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/let-the-light-shine-in-the-darkness
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/let-the-light-shine-in-the-darkness#commentsFri, 13 Dec 2013 13:02:20 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/?p=965Matthew 16:13-16 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This groundbreaking conversation took place at Caesarea Phillipi, which lies today in the modern day reserve of the Banias in the Golan Heights region of Israel. The city was established by Ptolemaic Greeks, a Hellenistic community where the worship of the god Pan was centered. Reviled by the Jews of Yeshua's time and considered by them the most idolatrous place in the entire Galilee, to this day it remains a place of nature worship and deep paganism.

Why did Yeshua (Jesus) deliberately take his disciples to the most sinful, pagan place to reveal who He was? Why not in the temple courts, or the tomb of Jeremiah or one of the prophets, where He might feel more at home and welcomed? No, Yeshua revealed who He really was… in the darkest corner of Israel.

Now that tells me that the Lord is not shy about shining His light in dark places, and that includes the ones inside me. Psalm 139 tells me that He is intimately acquainted with all of them –that I can forget about keeping secrets from Him. It seems He rather delights in walking into enemy territory and taking ground. Those areas of my life that I don’t want anyone else to see, (and usually can hide from them) – He wants to visit, speak His word, illuminate and cleanse the place! The places where I'm darkest and weakest are His greatest opportunities to be glorified through repentance, transformation, and healing.

Take time to open before God the dark areas of your life, trusting in His perfect and patient love for you. He wants to reveal His forgiveness and beauty right where you are most ashamed and miserable. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against a saint whose faith and courage invite Yeshua deep into the hidden areas of his soul, to be cleansed and given over to Him.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

The word for builder in Hebrew is "bo-neh". It is also translated repairer. When our Messiah came 2000 years ago, He came to repair lives — to do a complete restoration of all that is broken in this world. Interestingly, the Hebrew words for son, "ben" and daughter, "baht" both also come from the word "bo-neh".

Perhaps you are a son or daughter from a "broken" family. Yeshua (Jesus) came to give you power to be restored to a family which can never be broken…..His family. Receiving Him and believing on His Name gives you a new identity as a son or daughter. You become a son or daughter of God. The sorrows of your family life here may endure for a season, but….

No matter how broken that family or your life in this world has been, the Lord God has made a way for you to be completely restored and repaired through the resurrection life of His Son. Receiving this resurrection life through faith adopts you immediately into a new family whose destiny is eternally perfect loving relationship. This is a miracle which may seem too good to be true, yet the deep longing in each of us for loving family life was placed there by God, and He did it because He fully intended to fulfill that longing, more than any of us can yet imagine.

Isaiah 61:4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

For nearly 2000 years the Jewish people were scattered across the world without a homeland. In one day, according to the meticulous preparation of God, on May 14th 1948, the nation of Israel was restored. As millions of Jews were returning to their homeland they began rebuilding the ancient cities that were destroyed, restoring the desolations of many generations, and fulfilling Biblical prophecy. [Ezekiel 36-37; Isaiah 66]. This historical miracle illustrates the power of resurrection and the process of restoration which follows.

In our own lives, the new birth is a resurrection miracle. Born again by the sovereign power of God we begin a lifelong process of cooperating with Him to rebuild and restore our lives. Like the Israelis who rebuilt this nation, we work under the power and unction of a Divine mandate. And it is a mandate of restoration! What was broken, scattered, decimated, and as good as dead, perhaps for many generations, is being repaired, reintegrated, and reinvigorated with tremendous vitality. This dramatic parallel between the restoration of the Land of Israel and the restoration of our individual lives is a central theme of all God's Creation, and a source of tremendous encouragement in our day to day living.

God is at work in you, and His restoration is a meticulous labor of love. Give Him the time to repair what is broken in your life; especially the intimate time. The transformation process is a Divine mandate and a sure promise we can absolutely count on. We will be conformed to His image. Let us so encourage one another daily as the Day draws near.

Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God! I will be praised among the nations, I will be praised in the earth.

In one passage in John, Mary and Martha come running to Jesus, asking Him to heal Lazarus, who was critically ill. Since Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, I'm sure they were expecting that Jesus would come immediately to his aid. The scripture says, however, that Jesus stayed two more days in the place where He was. It was in those two days that Lazarus died.

It's so hard to understand why it is that God waits to do the things we ask of Him. It's good for us to remember, though, that He has His purposes for waiting. God was about to teach everyone involved a much deeper lesson here. As Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He made sure they all understood that He is the resurrection and the life for all who believe.

God has His perfect timing for everything under heaven. You may be waiting for God to intervene in some area of your life. You may have been begging and pleading with God for years on that particular thing. But we can relax and know that God's timing is perfect. We never know what God is doing behind the scenes, in order that our joy would be made full. Remember that He knows best what would bless us most and He is working all things for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Relax. God is in control. He has greater things for you than what you could ask or think!

Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This past Monday night began the holiday of Pesach (Passover), the day we remember God's merciful redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt. When the final plague struck Pharoh and the Egyptians in Exodus, those who were spared were were the ones who applied blood to their doorposts as God warned. Interestingly, the blood that God required them to apply then was the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb.

As believers in Messiah, we are blessed to have the blood of Yeshua (Jesus), our Passover Lamb, applied upon the doorposts of our hearts. The judgment we deserve has passed over us! And thankfully we can celebrate His redemption in our lives as well this season.

While this is a special time to celebrate God's passing over our sins, there is one thing we sometimes overlook. Not only should we remember the Lord's passing over our sins, but equally important is our obedience in passing over others' sins. Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. This is the way Jesus taught us to pray, is it not? Today we have the opportunity to make this prayer a reality in our lives.

Has someone offended you? Committed a sin against you? It happens, and unfortunately, it will probably happen again, as we live in a world full of sin. But we need to pass over those offenses just as God has passed over ours.

Passover is the season to give our hurts to the Lord. Let's allow Him to heal and free us, and those we've hurt and who've hurt us. We have been forgiven many offenses by the innocent blood of our Messiah. How much more should we forgive?

Matthew 21:10-14 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

There is a long standing tradition of cleaning one's house in the springtime – hence the term "spring cleaning". One source for this tradition is certainly the Jewish Passover (Pesach). Each spring as the holiday approaches observant householders in Israel and around the world perform a meticulous cleaning of their homes, especially to be sure there is no leaven in the house before Pesach begins. Leaven, in scripture, is often a metaphor for sin and impurity; and this season of the year is often a time for emphasizing "spiritual housecleaning".

When Yeshua (Jesus) entered Jerusalem for the last time in His earthly life, before the Passover, and just before He was sacrificed, He went to the Temple and "cleansed" it by driving out the money changers and religious merchandisers. Apparently, these were "religious" people with impure motives, and the Lord considered them to be "leaven" in his Father's house. Immediately after this, the Lord miraculously healed the blind and lame.

We can also be "religious" people with impure motives; seeking financial gain, or prestige, from "spiritual" activity, when the Lord desires a devoted heart of worship and prayer in His "house". Perhaps this is why we see so few miracles in our lives and "ministries". Let us also do a "housecleaning" for impure motivations. The Lord may then be freer to work His miracles through us.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

As most of you know, we've been on a speaking tour throughout the United States during the past month, and have been preaching throughout the country in the midst of flu season. This past weekend the flu finally broke down my immunity and seriously knocked me out. But after a few days of battling, I'm starting to feel better. Influenza is a nasty virus that has the ability to replicate extremely quickly and once it establishes a foothold, rapidly gains a stronghold within the body. You may guess where I'm going with this personal illustration.

The enemy of our souls is constantly looking for footholds in our lives — so that he can turn them into strongholds, and compromise or even destroy our effectiveness and inFLUence for the Lord! We need to be constantly on guard to maintain our spiritual immunity, keeping close accounts with the Lord about any sins committed, and being watchful and prayerful, and filled with His Spirit. Just as physical immunity protects us from the constant presence of invading microbes, spiritual immunity protects us from the constant attacks of unseen dark powers. And just as there are many powerful ways to enhance and protect our physical immune system, there are numerous spiritual recommendations to keep our spirits healthy and safe.

Prayer is a powerful protection; thinking and believing and acting on the scriptures is another. Worship with music, fellowship with other believers, quiet contemplation in a natural setting….all these will build spiritual immunity, and protect you from the "spiritual flu", protecting your inFLUence for the Kingdom of God.

During this season when the "flu" is flying everywhere, my prayer is for you to be wise and protected, both physically, AND spiritually. Rather than succumbing to the noxious physical and spiritual inFLUences around you, your powerful immunity will ensure that you will inFLUence the world around you….to the glory of your wonderful Lord!

It never ceases to amaze me, the way the devil uses our offenses and our "offendedness" to divide and conquer marriages, relationships, churches — even entire nations!

Many of us are not careful enough about the things we say and more importantly, we get offended way too easily. As we were discussing this topic recently, a good friend gave this analogy and we loved it:

If you are holding a baby and his little arm swats you in the face, would you take offense to that? Of course not! We know the little guy didn't intend to hurt us. We respond with "awwww" or laughter or something to that effect. But if it is a friend, a family member or a brother or sister in the church who offends us with a little swat of his words or actions, we are undone. We expect more from them! What hypocrisy! We become angry and we want to defend ourselves, fight back or leave forever.

Yeshua (Jesus) said NO! He said that even if someone despitefully uses us, that means on purpose, that we are to respond in love! We as human beings are troubled and sinful. We are not perfect and we should never expect others to be, no matter what their positions are in the church. God is perfect and He is the one from whom our expectations should come — no man.

Am I talking to you today? We are all guilty of this one way or another. Let's give our offenses to the Lord. Allow Him wash over us today. Allow Him Heal us. Get us back to where we need to be. There's so much work to be done.

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/are-you-offended/feed0Promises two times over!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/promises-two-times-over
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/promises-two-times-over#commentsFri, 31 Oct 2008 15:23:40 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/?p=558Psalms 97:10-12 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Driving through Jerusalem two days ago on our way to Ariel, we saw the most incredible sight – a double rainbow over Jerusalem! It was interesting that we saw the rainbows on our way to see the Ortiz family. For those of you who are not familiar with the Ortiz family, earlier this year this family was the victim of a horrific bombing. Their 15 year old son Ami opened a Purim basket rigged with such explosive power that it totally destroyed their apartment– and nearly killed the boy!

Looking at the close-up photos of that day, I realized that it's not just amazing – it is absolutely miraculous that Ami survived an explosion which occurred in his own hands, at point-blank range, and devastated the apartment in which he stood! We had never actually seen Ami in person. So after he came into the room and sat down next to me, my wife, Rivka, was still waiting for him to arrive – not realizing that it was Ami that was sitting next to me! She couldn't believe this was the young man that survived the bombing! That's how astounding his recovery has been thus far. Although he still lives with continual pain, his family is believing for a complete recovery – and we believe right along with them! At one point I turned to ask him, "Do you feel any bitterness from what happened?" His response showed no trace of the anger or bitterness that one would expect. So Ami is also a living portrait of the miraculous power of the grace and forgiveness of our Lord!

Death was seeking this family in Israel – yet God completely protected them. They have become a sign of His powerful deliverance! The rainbows we saw on the way were a picture of God's covenant faithfulness, which has been bountifully poured out on this faithful family in Ariel.

We have a choice each and every day how we will live! It's been said of our life that its significance is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to those events. Our attitude is the one thing we can have full control over – whatever situations are thrown our way! It may not be a bombing, as happened to Ami, but perhaps we can learn a lesson from this young man – there is NO trial or temptation that necessarily forces us into a sinful attitude of bitterness and hatred; with Yeshua as our perfect example and His Spirit as our power source we can always overcome.

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/promises-two-times-over/feed0Be Healed!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/be-healed
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/be-healed#commentsWed, 16 Jan 2008 09:15:48 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/be-healed2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Did you know that when a bone is broken and then heals, that previously broken place becomes the strongest part of the bone? What an amazing thing!

The same is true of any of our broken places. The places where we have been hurt, have fallen and failed, and are afraid are the very places that will be strongest if we allow God to heal us. How do we allow this healing? We become transparent before God — we ask Him to cleanse us and pour His healing mercy over our wounds.

When we are faithful to bring our broken parts to God, He will be faithful to heal them. His strength is made perfect through our weakness!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/be-healed/feed1Revival is here!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/revival-is-here
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/revival-is-here#commentsThu, 27 Dec 2007 19:58:29 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/revival-is-hereHosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Over the years I've often gotten emails asking "When do you think revival will come?"

Well…. first, what is "revival", exactly? One of Merriam-Webster's definitions is "a renewed attention to or interest in something". Here are some important questions for us to answer today:

How interested are we in praying to the Lord and truly worshipping His Holy Name?How interested are we in growing in God's truth and knowing Him deeply?How interested are we in gaining a greater knowlege and understanding of His Word?
And just how interested are we in sharing those precious things with the dying world around us?

A key aspect of world revival is revival within ourselves. And it's not just a one-time thing, either. Once, a lady asked Billy Sunday "Why do you keep having revival meetings?" He quickly retorted, "Why do you always take a bath?"

Revival is something that needs to happen daily. It's an ongoing transformation of our hearts to be constantly moved by the Spirit of God. We need to be daily breaking up our fallow ground, those places in our hearts which we've allowed to grow hard. We have to ask the Lord to reveal those hard places, pray that He would forgive us and ask Him to heal all our rough edges that we might be soft before Him and sensitive to His leading.

Let's get serious about getting ourselves revived! The world needs to see us flourishing! There's so much work to be done!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/revival-is-here/feed1LOL!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/lol
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/lol#commentsMon, 07 May 2007 20:12:24 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/blog/lolProverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

My wife came across a joke that'll surely make you ladies laugh out loud — and you men too– that is, if you know what's good for you, lol!

A small-town couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and their long, loving relationship had long been the talk of the town. For this special occasion, a local newspaper reporter paid them a visit to inquire as to the secret of their happy marriage.

"Well," explained the husband, "it really all goes back to our honeymoon. We visited the Grand Canyon and took a trip down to the bottom of the canyon by pack mule. We hadn't gone too far when my wife's mule stumbled. My wife quietly said 'That's once.' We proceeded a little farther when the mule stumbled again. Once more my wife quietly spoke: 'That's twice.' We hadn't gone a half-mile when the mule stumbled a third time. My wife promptly removed a revolver from her purse, hopped down off the beast, and shot the mule dead. I began to protest over her treatment of the mule when she looked at me and quietly said, 'That's once."'

I hope you liked that. Now, I've heard that children laugh 300 to 400 times a day while we adults laugh only a mere 15! Believe it or not, experts say that laughing aids digestion, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, boosts the immune system, triggers the release of endorphins which are the body's natural painkillers, heals broken relationships and produces a general sense of well-being!

Let's not take everything so very seriously! Let's start laughing at ourselves a little, and laughing at our enemy's attempts to keep us burdened and oppressed! God has our victory –always! And there's so much work to be done!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/lol/feed0Rescue Me!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/rescue-me
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/rescue-me#commentsWed, 14 Mar 2007 17:50:15 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/blog/rescue-meLuke 15:6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

A friend sent us this very touching story and we had to share it with you.

Some time ago there was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth.

Thankfully, a fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was in such bad condition that the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her, a very dangerous proposition.

One slap of the enormous whale's tail could kill a rescuer. Still the brave rescuers worked for hours cutting her free. One guy who was cutting the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time. Eventually they were able to free her.

As soon as she became free, the divers say she began to swim in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

Let's take a lesson from this beautiful story. So often we let the hurting in our churches and communities fall through the cracks, never to be seen again. But it is a brave soul who gathers up an army of rescuers to reach out to a suffering or hard to reach brother or sister and rescue him or her from the binding entanglements of this world. Just as the Lord has so mercifully reached out to us, we need to do the same. Whether it is a gift, an invitation to a meal or a smile and a word of encouragement, let's strive to reach out.

We need to be the first to initiate this kind of rescue team for our brothers and sisters. Believe you me, it will be just as beautiful and rewarding too. There's so much work to be done!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/rescue-me/feed0Praise the Lord!http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/praise-the-lord
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/praise-the-lord#commentsTue, 06 Feb 2007 14:14:42 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/blog/praise-the-lordMatthew 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Some of you know the miraculous story of our daughter Elianna. She was born blind, with a rare eye condition called bilateral vitreous hemorrhage. We didn't even realize it until she was three months old. When we went to the doctors in Israel, they advised an immediate risky surgery. We quickly went to the Lord in prayer and fasting for her healing. Low and behold, the Lord began to heal our little one!! Today, three years later, we're overjoyed to say that despite the fact that her vision is not yet perfect, she is a thriving and beautifully developing child!

This morning we went to see a children's eye specialist and she gave us a fantastic report! The blood residue in Elianna's retinas has totally and completely cleared up! She was confident that a few regular exercises will speed up the healing! What can we say but Praise the Lord!!

Have you been crying out to the Lord for a miracle? Be encouraged!! God still does great things!!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/praise-the-lord/feed0Anyone for mashed potatoes?http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/anyone-for-mashed-potatoes
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/anyone-for-mashed-potatoes#commentsThu, 02 Feb 2006 12:07:18 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/blog/anyone-for-mashed-potatoesMark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

A friend sent us this powerful anecdote and we wanted to share it.

"One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we'd refuse to forgive in our life, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.

We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.

Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a mushy nasty slime. The hassle of lugging this stinking thing around with us made it clear what a foul and heavy weight we were carrying spiritually."

When we won't forgive others, we're really only hurting ourselves. Let's let go of all our unforgiveness and release all our "potatoes" to the Lord. We need to get free so that we are able to do great things for Him! There's so much work to be done!

]]>http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/anyone-for-mashed-potatoes/feed0What's your prescription?http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/whats-your-prescription
http://www.worthydevotions.com/christian-devotional/whats-your-prescription#commentsTue, 31 Jan 2006 11:59:03 +0000http://www.worthydevotions.com/blog/whats-your-prescriptionProverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Some of you know the miraculous story of our daughter Elianna. She was born blind, with a rare eye condition called bilateral vitreous hemorrhage. We didn't even realize it until she was three months old. But when we did, we immediately went to the Lord in prayer and fasting for her healing. Low and behold, the Lord began to heal her.

Today, two years later, we're overjoyed to say that despite the fact that her vision is not yet perfect, she is a thriving and beautifully developing two-year old.. and the Lord continues to heal her!

A couple of months ago, we noticed that Elianna is having some trouble with depth perception, which keeps her from being confident going up and down steps among other things. We were finally able to see a fabulous doctor, after a long, socialistic-health-care-system-wait. This doctor is apparently the best in Israel for children's eye care and she was the first doctor we've seen who has given us a clear and educated diagnosis as well as a promising solution. Last week, Elianna was given a prescription for glasses which we and her doctor believe will change the way she sees radically and help her to grow leaps and bounds in development.

At the eyeglass shop on Friday, Elianna tried on her "new eyes". She was a little scared at first, holding tight to mommy and whimpering a bit. But by this week we have already seen amazing growth! Our little two year-old doesn't take off her glasses and is quite obviously enjoying the freedom and confidence she feels with them on. Though she seemed content before, she's never been able to see like this! Elianna's experiencing the world in a new way!

I think some of us might need a new pair of glasses today. Perhaps we've been content seeing the world the way we have but God wants us to see it in a new way! Our vision has been impaired by the enemy of our souls! But God has plans for us to be doing things we couldn't even fathom! He wants us to climb and run with freedom and confidence! He wants us to see and try new things that we haven't tried and seen before! He wants us to grow and develop to our potential — and even exceed it!

Let's allow the Lord to give us a heavenly prescription today. There's so much work to be done!